By Dade Hayes
Business Editor
The CW, continuing a live sports push under new majority owner Nexstar, is bringing back a storied college football tradition: the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl Presented By Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop.
The game, which is entering its 10th year, will feature two bowl-eligible teams from the Mountain West Conference and Mid-American Conference. The CW will air it live from Arizona Stadium in Tucson on the afternoon of Saturday, December 28.
Last year’s edition of the game was sponsored by Barstool Sports. In college football, it is routine for bowl games to rotate through various sponsorships even if the game stays in a given location, though the new branding is certainly a mouthful.
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College football’s expanded 12-team playoff goes into effect in this coming season. ESPN and Turner Sports will air those games, many of them bowl contests, which will determine the national champion.
While the Arizona Bowl may not be the sport’s marquee attraction, any national college football telecast tends to over-index in the ratings, especially by comparison with previous CW programming. Last year’s broadcast of the 2023 Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl on The CW delivered more than 1.1 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. That ranked it among the network’s top three telecasts of the past two years in total viewers as well as adults 18 to 49.
After Nexstar took over The CW in 2022, with prior 50-50 partners Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global each retaining 12.5% stakes, the network has expanded into weekend dayparts where its affiliates had been running infomercials. The sports emphasis is a central part of the new strategy designed to make The CW profitable by 2025.
“As we continue to bring high-adrenaline sports content to The CW, we are excited to welcome the Arizona Bowl back to our air this December,” CW President Dennis Miller said in a press release. “With the star power of Snoop Dogg fueling the excitement, we are looking forward to capturing even more viewers this year in what promises to be an action-packed football match-up.”
Snoop Dogg said the fact that The CW “is in almost every home in America” makes it “the perfect place for fans to catch our bowl.”
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